Meta reported that over 2.88 billion people use one of their products (Facebook, WhatsApp, Instagram, or Messenger) daily.
Let’s forget about the other three and focus on Facebook alone.
Over 2.934 billion people use Facebook at least once a month, making it the world’s most active social media platform today.
According to the Investor earning report, the number of active Facebook monthly active users (MAU) might have dropped slightly, but 36.8% of the world’s population is still big on using Facebook.
So, yes, to sum up, there’s a whole world of opportunities your business is missing by not having an active Facebook business page.
And the best part, it doesn’t cost a penny to open one.
Just log into your personal Facebook account and click “Create a Page” from the drop-down menu. Next, follow the steps below to create a business profile.
While creating a business profile on Facebook isn’t difficult, the real challenge comes in optimizing the page and managing it on an ongoing basis. Getting some of the things right takes a lot of time and effort.
That’s why you might want to hire a social media freelancer from a site such as Fiverr or upwork to develop or manage the pages for you.
But if you have the time and don’t mind getting your hands a little dirty, then taking a DIY route isn’t bad of a compromise.
That said, here are the ten steps to creating a Facebook business page:
Step 1: Create a Personal Facebook account (if you don’t have one)
Start by creating a personal Facebook account. If you already have one, you can skip the process and head straight to step two, setting up the Facebook page.
Follow this link to create the account. You’ll be prompted to enter your first name, surname, mobile number or email address, new passwords, date of birth, and gender. Fill in all the requested details and click on “Sign Up” to complete the account “Sign Up” process.
Once done, click proceed to step two to create the page.
Step 2: Create a Facebook Business Page Account
Once you’ve created a personal Facebook account, the next thing you want to do would be to proceed and create the Facebook Business Page.
Log into your Facebook and click the plus sign “+.” That will open up a drop-down menu with lots of options on what to create.
Select “Page” from the drop-down menu:
Enter Your Page Information
Enter your page’s name on the next page.
You’ll also be required to enter a category. Choose a category that best describes your business. Facebook will suggest a few categories for you to choose from.
Note that you’re allowed to add up to three categories. We suggest you choose all the relevant categories instead of just one.
Lastly, enter your business description and click “Create Page.”
Note that you’re limited to 255 characters of text (about 50 words). So, text your time to create the best description, cutting on unnecessary fluff.
Add “Images” and “Cover Photo”
Now, this is where you add your profile picture and cover.
Click “Add Profile Picture,” and you’ll be directed to your gallery to choose a picture. You can also drag and drop the picture in the box provided.
In most cases, people use their logos as profile pictures. You’re also allowed to choose any image that best describes your business.
Next, click “Add Cover Photo” to add a cover photo.
Here, we suggest you choose a picture that describes what you do. You can hire a graphic designer to help you design a catchy cover photo and include a few of your services and website URL. Limit the texts you use in your cover photo.
Alternatively, consider using a tool like Canva to design the cover photo yourself.
Using Canva is as simple as choosing a template and swapping the elements provided with your own – no learning curve required unless you want to.
You want your cover photos to be visually appealing and representative of your business. It should be at least 40 pixels and 150 pixels.
Step 3: Invite Your Facebook Friends to Like Your Page
Next, Facebook will prompt you to invite a few of your current friends (from your personal Facebook account) to like the page. You want to “invite” as many of them as possible.
Click on “See All Friends” and invite as many friends as possible.
Note that there’s no limit to how many of your friends you can invite. Facebook allows you to “invite” all of them if you wish.
The only problem is that you have to invite them one by one, as there’s no bulk option where you can select a group of friends and invite them all at once.
Click on the invite button next to each name to invite the friend.
Facebook has broken down all the steps to setting up a business page to 13. By now, you should be done by at least five:
Establish Your page’s Identity:
Step 1: Add a profile picture
Step 2: Choose a page name
Step 3: Choose a category
Step 4: Add a Cover photo
Step 5: Add a description
Provide Business Info and Preferences:
Step 6: Add website
Step 7: Add location info
Step 8: Add hours
Step 9: Add a phone number
Step 10 Link Whatsapp
Step 11: Add a button
Introduce Your Page
Step 12: Invite friends
Step 13: Create a welcome post
The 13 steps act as a checklist of the tasks to complete. Every task you complete will be marked as complete. So be sure to complete all the 13 tasks for your profile to be marked as complete.
Step 4: Create a Username
Your job isn’t done until you create a username for your page.
Remember that the username you create will also double your page URL. For instance, if we choose MediaOne as our username, our page URL will be www.facebook.com/mediaone.
Choose a unique username that people can easily find and identify when searching for your business on Facebook.
Note that the username you choose must be available for you to use them.
Facebook offers a few guidelines on how to choose a suitable username for your business:
- The username must be available. In other words, you can’t use a username another person already uses.
- Your username can only contain alphanumeric characters (A to Z and 0 to 9). You cannot use special characters or domain extensions (.com, .net, .org, etc.).
- The username you use must be at least five characters long.
- The username you use must be your own and not impersonating someone else.
- Your username must adhere to Facebook terms and conditions as stipulated here.
- You can use capitalization or periods to differentiate usernames. For example, MediaOne, mediaone, and media.one are all considered the same username.
Note that only the page’s admin is allowed to change the username. It’s advisable to create a username immediately after you create a new page. Otherwise, someone else might claim the username rendering it unavailable.
Facebook can also remove a username when it’s inactive.
Step 5: Add a Button to the Page
After you input all the information Facebook wants you to enter, you want to add a button.
The button will appear at the top right-hand of the page after you add it, below the cover photo.
The button also doubles as your Call to Action. Plus, it’s free to use.
The button must be relevant to your business and what you do.
The idea is to use the button to generate leads and increase sales.
To add the button, click the blue “+ Add a Button” option on the left-hand side of the page.
You can choose from many of the options provided:
- Follow: when you want people to follow your Facebook page
- Book now: For restaurants, hotel rooms, tours, or any business that requires the user to make a booking.
- Call Now: When your business relies on calling prospects to close a deal (real estate, escort services, bakery services, etc.).
- Send a message: When you want your users to reach out and inquire about your services.
- Learn More: When you have a website or landing page with more information on a product or the services you offer.
- Shop on Website: To direct users to an ecommerce store or website where they can make a purchase.
- Start Order: Works with restaurants where people can order food online.
- Play Game: Direct users to a website where they can play a game online
- Use App: Direct users to the Google play store, app store, or a landing page where they can download your app
- Sign up: When you want users to sign up on your site or for a newsletter.
- View Gift Card: If your website sells a gift card
Choose a button type that best describes what you want the user to do. For example, use the “Book with You” button if the page is for a hair salon. That way, people can check to see when you’re available and make their booking in advance.
In the same way, brands that sell physical products can use the “Shop on Website” button that directs users to their ecommerce website, where they can make a purchase.
Step 6: Promote Your Facebook Page By Being Active
Creating a Facebook Business page is only the step to Facebook marketing.
You’ll need to be active on the platform to grow an audience and market the page.
Facebook is a search engine in itself. People also visit the platform to search for products or services they’re interested in.
So, posting regularly with the right hashtags and keywords will ensure your posts are among those that show up.
You don’t just need to be consistent in your posting. You must also identify a few relevant groups and actively start participating in the group chats.
How Facebook Hashtags Work
Hashtags turn phrases, keywords, and topics into clickable links in a Facebook post or page. That means when someone searches for a hashtag or clicks on one, they’ll be shown results that contain the hashtag so they can learn more about the topic.
Simple, to add a hashtag to a post, all you need to do is add the #sign to a topic or keyword phrase, ignoring all the spaces between the words.
For instance, if the topic is “social media marketing in Singapore,” we can hashtag it by eliminating the spaces and adding the # sign – so it becomes #socialmediamarketinginsingapore.”
Create Your Own Branded Hashtag
Your branded hashtag should be unique to you. That way, anyone who clicks on them will be directed to your posts and post alone.
For example, MediaOne uses #mediaonemarketing as its own branded hashtag. Clicking or searching for the hashtag only generates MediaOne’s posts.
We suggest you create two personal hashtags i) a branded hashtag and ii) a personalized hashtag for your customers or audience.
We suggest you only use your branded hashtag on your posts and personal hashtag to invite your audience to participate in your chats or share their posts.
The two hashtags must be unique to your brand.
Examples:
Branded hashtag: #mediaone
Personal hashtag: #100DaysOfSEO or #SEOwithMediaOne or #GainWithMediaOne
Join and Drive Conversations About You
Your ears and eyes should be all over the place.
Whenever someone mentions your brand or anything related to what you do, be sure to respond to it right there and there.
You want to use the two hashtags with every response you post.
Use a Hashtag Challenge
Create a hashtag challenge that your followers can use to share your post or participate in your conversations.
- Be sure to invite as many users as possible to use the hashtag to share some of their posts or acknowledge users who frequently use them in their posts.
- Use hashtags to start a conversation with a group. Note that every word you transform into a hashtag will be grouped into its own status update. In other words, the post will show up alongside similar posts using the same hashtag.
- Be sure not to overdo it. You want to limit the number of hashtags you use to at most 3.
- Go through your best-performing posts and audit them, adding hashtags. That should give them additional visibility.
- Search what hashtags influencers use, and be sure to add them to your posts. Use a tool such as Emplifi or Hashtagify to find these hashtags.
- You also want to capitalize the first letter of every word in your hashtag to make it more readable. For example, #TheFirstLetterToEachLetter is more readable than #thefirstwordtoeachletter.
- Think about your industry and target market and the type of hashtags your competitors use. Go through popular Facebook pages and groups and see what hashtags they use and how many of them per post.
It’s a simple research that could help you identify valuable hashtags outside of those you already know or those that Facebook suggests to you.
Step 7: More Ways to Promote Your Page
As we said, your work is only but just beginning.
Next, you want to promote your new page and get fans to engage with you.
How?
Start with the Network You Already Have
Start with your email subscribers. If a user has already subscribed to your email list, there’s a good chance they would also love to connect with you on Facebook too.
So, send them an email inviting them to like your new page.
You also want to add social media button to your email footer, where your subscribers can easily see them upon opening your email.
Run Facebook Ads
Facebook ads are an excellent strategy to get your page in front of the right audience.
Leverage Facebook targeting features to create ads targeting audiences based on interest, age, location, etc.
You also want to use Facebook’s custom audience’s to upload your email list and target your existing audience.
Share Helpful Content
Give your followers a reason to like your page and engage with you.
Your followers aren’t interested in your product or services yet. So, take them through the purchase journey until they’re warm enough to take action.
Facebook is still a visual journey. So share images and videos that get them hooked and ready to jump into action.
If possible, consider using Facebook Live to engage them in real-time.
Promote the Page Offline
Your promotion activities aren’t limited to the internet. You can still promote the page offline.
You can start by including your Facebook page on all print marketing materials: business cards, t-shirts, flyers, menus, or signs – anywhere visible.
Also, mention your page in the next workshop, seminar, event, or conference. You also want to invite friends, families, and customers to like the page whenever you meet them offline.
Engage Your Existing Social Media Followers
You probably have active followers on other platforms, as well.
If you’re active on LinkedIn, Pinterest, Instagram, or even WhatsApp, then there’s no harm in promoting the page on these platforms as well.
Reach out to your followers on these platforms and let them know that you have a new Facebook page that you would like them to follow and like.
Your superfans will be happy to like the page and connect with your business from whatever platform you suggest.
5 Post Ideas on What to Post on a New Facebook Business Page
Curious about what to post on your Facebook page?
Here are 5 post ideas to get your creative juice flowing:
#1. Ask Questions
Start conversations with your followers by asking them questions. While you shouldn’t use this in every post, it’s a powerful strategy for driving engagement on the platform.
Think creatively about every question you ask. The goal is to get genuine audience input on key business decisions. Ask them relevant questions and get their honest opinions on various issues.
The idea is to get them to engage with your posts and share their thoughts on various issues and decisions.
Consider asking your audience questions that are fun, exciting, and easy to respond to. Some of your responses may even help you generate future content ideas.
#2. Behind-the-scenes
Another great content idea for a Facebook business page is to share the behind-the-scenes photos of your business.
Here are some of the approaches you may take:
- Show How Your Products Are Made: Walk your followers through a step-by-step process of how your products are made.
- Introduce your staff: Introduce your employees one by one and the role each of them plays in your company or business.
- Include bloopers of your video campaigns or videos: Include those moments when people go off-script and make light of what happens during video shoots.
#3. Share Trending Topics
What are people talking about at that particular point and time? Bonus point if it’s related or connected to your industry or niche.
That will increase your chances of appearing in your users’ feeds and, at the same time, get them more likely to comment and share your posts.
Just figure out how to connect the topic and what you do.
You can take a cue from Dr. Seuss, jumping on the trending topic and encouraging users to grab a book, preferably his book.
#4. Share Branded Graphics
Here’s another excellent post idea: share a branded post idea with your company logo, colour palette, and fonts.
You can share quotes, motivational sayings, memes, or anything else you suspect your followers might be interested in.
And they don’t need to be the same style. Play around with different shades of colours, shapes, and icons to make each graphical design look unique and visually appealing to anyone who sees it.
#5. Leverage Story Telling
Your followers will appreciate you for being human and more relatable.
Stories are a great way to connect with your Facebook followers more personally and get them to see your business from a more human side.
Here’s an example of a story told by Melyssa Griffin, a solopreneur whose business is around her personal brand.
The idea is to share your own personal stories, the hard part of starting and growing your business. Another great idea is to give your social media manager the freedom to have fun with their role. Let them discuss the hard part of doing their jobs and inspire others who want to pursue the same career path.
#5. Share Videos
Facebook users love videos, and so is the Facebook platform.
They even have an entire “Watch” section dedicated to videos alone. That’s why videos make an excellent content idea for Facebook.
Options abound. You can create motion videos, educational videos, informational videos, or any other type of video content.
Here’s an example of a fun video to post from Campbell:
https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=773735332973687
The video engages the user and creates positive feelings around the brand.
